Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Transcript - Doorstop, Mural Hall Parliament House

Topics: CPI Data; Labor’s failed budget, Cost of living, Tax Back Guarantee, Multiculturalism 

E&OE......................

Tim Wilson: Inflation caused by the Iran conflict might have evaporated which has just left Australians with the consequences of Jim Chalmers’ active inflation agenda. Australia still has a fundamental inflation problem. Australia still has a fundamental inflation problem that’s caused by government spending. That means when Australians go to the supermarket they’re paying more for the fewer goods they’re getting into their red basket or their trolley. What we have is a government in complete denial about the consequences of their policies and how it’s having a direct impact on Australian households. We have debt petrol continuing to be poured on the inflation fire. While we might have the evaporation of Iran inflation occurring today, it doesn’t change some fundamentals. We have 4.7% inflation for the essentials, the goods and services that Australians desperately need. That is why Australians are finding it harder to get ahead, and the only answer from the government is to turn around add more taxes in its budget. This government is directly assaulting the financial wellbeing of Australian households. They’re doing it through their active inflation agenda they’re doing it through their higher taxes agenda. And that is why the Coalition has put forward its Tax Back Guarantee. Because every time Jim Chalmers stokes inflation, more money comes out of the hip pocket and the earnings of Australian households. Our tax back agenda is to say no matter how aggressive the inflation agenda of the Albanese Government we will give that money back to Australians, so they are in control of their own destiny. We have an Australia where hard work pays off and Australians feel a basic sense of respect about how their taxes are being spent.

Journalist: Do you think the the government should be focusing more on headline or underlying inflation?

Tim Wilson: The government should be focused on getting all type of inflation down, but particularly around making sure the costs of goods don’t continue to rise for Australian households. What we know is every time Australians go to the supermarket they are paying higher prices. We have seen this today in the essential goods that Australians are paying at the supermarket for the goods and services they desperately need. Now is the time for the government to stop spending, because spending contributes to the problems of inflation that Australian households are experiencing.

Journalist: The housing minister said this morning the housing market is experiencing a correction... what are your thoughts on that?

Tim Wilson: The government is in complete disarray over housing because they don’t know what their policy objective is. What we know is the budget papers show that 35,000 fewer homes are going to be built as a consequence of Labor’s higher-tax agenda. What we know is that rents are going to increase as a consequence of the Labor government’s higher tax agenda. What we need is Australians to be able to get into the housing market, to rent on the private market, or to buy their first home so they can get ahead. Instead, the Albanese Government’s solution is simply to crash confidence, inflate out wages and make it harder for Australians to save for a first-home deposit and if they do to tax them harder.

Journalist: [inaudible question regarding passage of NDIS legislation]

Tim Wilson: We have said that we will work with the government to pass this legislation through the Parliament. One of the key concerns we have had at every step of the way is that Australians have not had a say into the process. We will work with the government to reduce the amount of waste, the fraud and corruption and we’ve said that consistently along the way. The problem is that the government has been disinterested in focusing on the fraud and corruption they seem to mostly be focused on the clients. We need to make sure the NDIS is sustainable because that is what Australians want.

Journalist: There has been a lot of debate about multiculturalism vs monoculturalism. What is your perspective on Australia as a multicultural nation?

Tim Wilson: I believe we should be a culturally confident country. What we want is people who come to Australia to commit to Australia and contribute to Australia, anchored in central values which unite us all around basic principles of equality before the law, respect for our institutions and the basic rights and freedoms - as we say in our citizenship pledge. And of course people will come from all over the world and that’s what enriches our country so long as they commit to those underlying values which was the original intention of multiculturalism. Not what we have now which is identity politics pushed by Labor because they want to divide the Australian community. What we have is a Labor government that is seeking to divide Australians. We have other political parties on the far right seeking to divide Australians. Only a Coalition government is focused on a values set of principles and a culturally confident Australia that unites Australians and for the way forward for every Australian.

Journalist: Does you coalition support the government’s changes to paid parental leave that begin on 1 July?

Tim Wilson: We have said we are supportive, I need to be clear, of the existing PPL scheme. We are working through our own internal processes to assess the impacts of the current proposal put forward but we do support the PPL scheme.

Journalist: The Reserve Bank has long focused on underlying inflation as the key measure for interest rates. Should the government adopt a similar preferred measure?

Tim Wilson: We absolutely believe that the government’s objective should be to get inflation down. There are multiple drivers of inflation that we have seen in recent months, but now that that has evaporated we are now seeing the fundamental problem sitting underneath inflation. That’s why at 3.6 per cent, Australian households will continue to face higher interest rates under the Albanese Government. The Albanese Government continues to overspend and that means that Australia’s inflation persists and, as a consequence, Australian households are going to continue to pay higher interest rates.

Journalist: From 1 July new parents will receive additional paid parental leave bringing it up to six months. Do you support that?

Tim Wilson: As I said, we are going through our processes with the formal process to make sure that’s the case, but we have consistently said we support paid parental leave.

[ENDS]